The Chordettes

The Chordettes stood among the most enduring vocal ensembles whose foundations lay in the mainstream pop and close-harmony traditions of the 1940s and early 1950s. Though their four-part settings drew greater influence from the Andrews Sisters than from doo wop, the women adapted to the rock era more successfully than most contemporaries. After launching their career with the massive, non-rock pop success “Mr. Sandman” in 1954, they maintained chart presence through the latter half of the decade and into the early 1960s, frequently interpreting rock and R&B material. Their most prominent such recording, the 1958 number-two hit “Lollipop,” became the clearest example. While their overall style remained, in hindsight, among the most Caucasian and conventional heard on rock records, the addition of rock elements in both repertoire and production gave later sides a more up-to-date cast than earlier efforts such as “Mr. Sandman.”

Jinny Osborn first encountered harmony singing through her father, president of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America Inc. She assembled the quartet with three college acquaintances; beginning in 1949 the group spent four years as regulars on Arthur Godfrey’s television program, performing a cappella in barbershop style and cutting sides for Columbia. Godfrey’s musical director, Archie Bleyer, wed the Chordettes’ bass singer Janet Ertel at roughly the same moment he launched his own Cadence label. Once on Cadence the singers worked with instrumental accompaniment, although barbershop traits remained prominent on “Mr. Sandman.” Originally issued as a Vaughn Monroe B-side, the buoyant, lightly novelty track—featuring a deep-voiced “Yes?” spoken by a character representing the title figure—topped the charts for seven weeks.

As early rock & roll challenged pop dominance in the mid-1950s, the Chordettes joined other White acts in covering R&B songs for mainstream listeners. Their version of the Teen Queens’ early doo-wop favorite “Eddie My Love” shared Top 20 sales with the original. They likewise reworked Ronald & Ruby’s “Lollipop” into their signature rounded-harmony arrangement, complete with percussive popping effects, yielding their strongest foray into rock or rock-adjacent material. Straightforward pop releases such as “Born to Be with You” and “Just Between You and Me” also scored notable successes.

Through the late 1950s and early 1960s the group continued to balance pop numbers with rock-leaning selections, including renditions of the Coasters’ “Charlie Brown,” Paul Anka’s “Lonely Boy,” and Dodie Stevens’ “Pink Shoelaces,” as well as a handful of tracks featuring King Curtis on saxophone. Further singles that charted after “Lollipop” included “Zorro,” “No Other Arms, No Other Lips,” and “Never on Sunday.” The ensemble dissolved soon after the latter reached the Top 20 in 1961, when Jinny Osborn departed and a satisfactory replacement proved elusive.